In 2012, when Microsoft announced an investment of $300 million in the Nook division of Barnes & it seemed that it was a new life line for the last standing physically existing bookstore chain. The investment valued the business of Nook at $1.7 billion at that time. Owing to the news the stocks of the bookseller had spiked.

On Thursday, a source said that there is a shuffle in the top ranks of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and three of the deputies to the head of the mobile division are leaving the company. The decision comes at a time when the largest maker of largest smartphone in the world is facing a steep decline in its profit figures.

Approximately two thousand insurance jobs may be on the verge of trimming as Aviva tries to soothe uncertainties regarding its bid for Friends Life.

Some analysts called Friday's £5.6 billion deal as a scope for Aviva to raise its dividend; some others remained unconvinced, with a single question in mind, thinking whether this was anything but "a rights issue in disguise".